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The core search for a suspected foreign vessel in Swedish waters has been called off. The armed forces said they remained convinced foreign underwater activity had taken place but had not identified an intruder.

Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad said at a press conference on Friday morning that Sweden's armed forces had probably been tracking a "small vessel" in recent days and definitely not "a larger, conventional submarine", in the waters off Stockholm.

"Whoever it was that violated our waters has left," he said, adding that the incursion was "completely unacceptable".

"If this is the case, why did it stop with the politicians? Why haven't we been informed? And most importantly, why have there been so many cuts to the defence budget if Swedish territory is being violated on multiple occasions?"

Rear Admiral Grenstad said the armed forces would now analyze recordings made with the help of underwater sensors.

"We have made the assessment that we're not going to get any more information out there. We have enough information."

Russia has denied it was the source of the suspicious underwater activity, blaming a Dutch submarine for triggering the submarine hunt, a claim rejected by the Netherlands.

The massive military operation this week evoked memories of the 1980s for many Swedes who recalled dozens of occasions when the Nordic country's navy was in hot pursuit of suspected Russian submarines.